Márcio Rafael Ferreira de Souza (born 7 September 1985), commonly known as Rafinha ([ʁɐˈfiɲa]; "Little Rafa"), is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a right-back.

[4] Rafinha began his football career at the age of seven, playing for Gremio Londrinense, a futsal team from his home town of Londrina, Paraná.

[5] At Coritiba, Rafinha eventually found his way into the Brazil under-20 national team and played in the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship in the Netherlands.

Rafinha's performance at the tournament alerted numerous European teams to his ability, with German club Schalke 04 ultimately signing the right-back from Coritiba for an estimated €5 million on a four-year contract.

[14] On 1 June 2011, Bayern Munich confirmed Rafinha's transfer from Genoa on the same day that they signed his former Schalke teammate Manuel Neuer.

He made 46 appearances across all competitions,[5] including the entire DFB-Pokal final in which Bayern secured a second consecutive double after defeating Borussia Dortmund.

[33] He was officially released on 2 February 2021, as he was no longer in the plans of manager Pedro Martins,[34] especially after signing right full-back Kenny Lala as a free transfer a few days earlier.

Although, before the mutual termination of his contract, he won the Greek Cup and alongside, Olympiacos set an agreement that, after winning that season's Super League Greece, Rafinha will get a commemorative medal for that title.

Schalke 04 (to send Rafinha) along with Werder Bremen (Diego), both to Brazil, and Barcelona (Lionel Messi) to Argentina, did not want to release their players for the Olympic games so that they could help them in their domestic and European competitions.

Despite his club's wishes, however, he ultimately did compete for the Brazil squad under the provision that their salaries were paid for by the Brazilian Football Confederation,[43] which won bronze.

[47] On 17 September 2015, Rafinha was called up by head coach Dunga for two qualifying fixtures for the 2018 World Cup, but five days later turned it down, while also denying claims of rejecting the call-up to represent his adopted homeland Germany.